Growing Broad Beans: A Complete Guide from Autumn to Spring Planting 

I agree with Jerri. You show the entire growing process, from putting the compost in the tray and sowing the seed, to pricking out the seedlings to a large pot if needed, transplanting to the garden, planning for different seasons of harvest, etc. I have learned so much! Many thanks! And I think you are simply a very charming man and it is a pleasure to listen to you talk!

What I love about Charles - "No faffing around".

What I love about Charles' videos - they soothe the soul. And *extremely* clear and helpful

What sets you apart, wonderfully I might add is you show start to finish. So many videos leave you wanting. As a small farmers mkt vender I have learned so much this winter, I actually built a 18x33 greenhouse in our unusually warm Utah January. February has been cold but my little cool weather vegies are doing fine under their row covers. Thank you so much, God bless you kind man.

This man is so helpful he promotes his methods with such clarity and simply but with lots of knowledge and skill.

Dear all, I am very hard-hearted, and very rarely buy from anyone. But this Man has given us so much, I encourage you all to please support him by buying and consuming all that he has to offer. I have profited much from the fruits of his desire to share, and I know that you will too. Please, Mr. Dowding, I try not to inundate you with Qs, but I can't resist anymore, please, if you will: 1) Do you harden your seedlings or have any comments about doing so? I assume you don't have to worry about hardening seedlings since you start them in an unheated greenhouse, but if you had any thoughts to share about hardening, that'd be great, thank you. 2) How, when, and why did you begin to adhere to the No-Dig philosophy? I know from watching your videos that you had a 7ac in the 80s on which you Market Gardened for a living, and I don't ask why you downsized because that I understand. But what made you consider the simplicity of just laying compost on the ground (I don't wish to oversimplify) and plant in that compost. I'd love to hear about your No-Dig genesis and conversion. I have other Qs, mostly related to Efficiency, but they're not well-thought out in my head and I am already un-succinct. And I saw recently an interview of you on another YT channel in which you stated a desire to increase efficiency. In my mind, this is a big goal for the future. Thank you in advance so very much.

Damn it Charles Dowding! Your videos have spoilt me for watching anyone else’s videos! Yours are to the point, no waffling, great info, ideas. Almost anyone else’s videos just don’t cut the mustard!

This is very helpful to see the whole cycle. I am growing broad beans for the first time (Melbourne, Australia) so there is much to learn. Thank you.

Here in Portugal they seem to be really ripe when the pods get brownish/blackish dots or colors on them. Then they are a real treat raw :) Thanks for the great video!

Plant beans with their eyes down so the can see where they’ve bean. It does matter. Excellent video.

Thanks to Charles and this video, I have now beautiful broad bean plants one metre high, full of flowers and some early pod. Really an easy and satisfying crop, perfect for my climate.

I tried growing broad beans here in zone 9b, central Florida one winter. The seed germinate quickly, the plants grew to about 24 inches tall. They all flowered but I go no broad beans. Nothing wasted I say. I put the plants in my compost bed to serve me another purpose. Miss Peggy and I greatly enjoy your instruction.

Charles - your videos always get me excited to be out in the garden. Thank you for reminding me that gardening is easy and not to overthink it. 😊

I have never liked fava beans, but your explanation of this plant is so interesting that now I'm sure to try growing our own. Also, want to mention that I've been so immersed in your videos and books lately that my family has begun joking about it. Thank you for such a calm and focused teaching style. A real talent that not many have. Your sharing of knowledge is very appreciated.

I think you are the only gardening chanel i have seen grow Broadbeans. They are my only favourite bean. and so yummy in melted butter. ❤

I love to eat the immature beans, recently heard that fancy restaurants use the flowers as a garnish. To me, that really is a waste! Broad beans can be dried to store for use over winter. Soak overnight and cook up the following day like any dried bean. A local company here (Christchurch, New Zealand) uses the dried beans to make a yummy falafel mix. I’m about to plant an Autumn sowing of broad beans from my own seed. I have a small garden growing mainly fruit of all kinds and a bed permanently in yams. I have some space for growing leafy vegetables, early potatoes etc. I had figured out that no dig is the easiest way to produce food but didn’t know what it was called until now. Thanks so much for your videos, I have learnt heaps! My son is watching as well and often quotes you when he is helping me out. We both very much appreciate what you’re doing.

Thanks for giving sizes in inches so easy for some of us older people .

Another benefit of pinching out the tops is that the tops are an additional harvest and have a great taste and are a welcome fresh veg earlier on, especially if you have the autumn sown beans growing.

Another Great Instructional Video Charles.I must say that your Diary Book is a fantastic aid to all growers and have no hesitation in recommending it to others.

I'm in a cool mountain region in Australia and plant them in early April (same as my garlic) which is close to first frost. They grow to about 10cm tall before the real cold hits (upto -10C) then sit there, quietly growing roots, until the earliest spring when they explode into growth. Wonderful!

Charles ,you are so down to earth with your info,no bullshit,(just compost,)& so easy to follow what you say & do.Thankyou

I think I'll start interplanting them between my ornamental garden plants, since bees love them so much and they are actually cute little shrubs too 💚

I love how you show start to finish too :) Thank you Charles :) You've inspired me to get planting tomorrow ~ weather permitting ~ fortunately I already bought some broad bean seeds, before the garden centre closed :)

that plot makes me jealous. the soil is soo soft

They are excellent to eat raw as young shoots in a salad...one of my favorites.

What a brilliant video! I now feel I know all I need to know to confidently grow broad beans for the first time.

Awesome Video. I love the taste of Broad Bean leaf tops. They even taste better after a frost for some reason. I grow the wild field broad beans for my bees and I find when you pinch out they produce more flowering stems. They hum with Bumble bees in late may round here, I have noticed the wild types gradually getting bigger with each years sowing, One tip to get near 100% germination. Soak them in water over night, and any that float just throw them way. I know in 2017 using this method we had 97 beans from 100 sown all grow into nice plants, however one did go straggly and die so 96 all produced good flowers and beans.

Even in our tropical climate (I'm from PR 🇵🇷) I followed your guidance and growed some red lettuces and rainbow swiss chards...

I just love broadbeans.. I planted some Peruvian giants in autumn.. Its allmost spring here and they are doing great.. The style of the plant is like a 70's Japanese lady with a pale yellow formal silk shirt and the same pale yellow paper envelopes.. Maybe she's writing a letter.

Hello Charles! Thanks for all your videos, I really love the content, you don't know how much I'm learning from you, my garden is not the same since I see your videos. You don't teach only about gardening, you teach about freedom and happines. Feed the soil as you show us, is maybe one of the best things that a human can do in this planet. Again, thank you. I send you a big hug from Barcelona

After several years of blaming mice, rats, squirrels, slugs and pigeons for massive losses of broad and field beans I've just filmed jackdaws pecking off the growing tips. They don't eat anything but leave the shoot to die. Even managed to peck through netting. I'm now trying fleece over the third resowing of the season.

We eat the skin too when they are young and seeds are young and tender inside. So it is not a waste to eat them early. Bigger the seed tougher the skin and not good on stair fry. 😊

Love this style of video, start to finish gives you so much more understanding. Thanks Charles better get sowing some broad beans.

This came right when I need it! I just sowed Fava beans last week for the first time ever! I have never even eaten them so I'm excited to try them!

Love broad beans

Hello Charles, watching you grow and harvest the broad beans, reminds me of my mother, back in the 50’s, making a soup using broad beans. The only difference is she called them horse beans. The soup was very good, and she served the soup with onions on the side. I have tried a few times to make the soup, but never the same result. Thank you for all your videos, and bringing back some good memories.

Knocked it out of the park again, thanks Charles! I feel confident to plant mine out now! As a total beginner i find your videos so helpful and contain answers to every question I have . 😊

I love broad beans anyhow. Big little soft tough I really don’t care. I’ve never eaten the pods though. I love your vids Charles. Always informative with no annoying music just birdsong in the background. Superb!

Amazing video! I just love the format that you follow for the growing guide type videos! The info on how to eat the is particularly useful!! No one eats them this way where I live so I might have to give them a go!

You're a Gem Charles; thanks for sharing so much with us!

Hi. I'm from Brazil and I'll try fava beans for the first time this april. Thanks for the tips.

Thanks for making and posting this video. A one stop "shop" of broad bean knowledge!

Nice! Your videos always inspire me to get out and work on a garden or if I can't do anything in the garden at least to work on some planning. Thanks Mr. Dowding!

Back to this video (yet again!) to refresh and inspire anew. These videos (along with your excellent books) are such a resource and a genuine gift to those of us following in your footsteps in even the smallest of ways. A belated, but heartfelt, thank you for such an amazing resource and well of inspiration at the exciting start of another year of growing and learning here in the very Highlands of Scotland. 👍 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🐂 😁

I love broad beans. I didn't plan to plant any this year, but I have for the last three years. Peas are wonderful too.

One of my favourite crops and meals, it's an amazing plant 💚

You can eat the tops for salad greens as well, the leaves are delicious raw or cooked.

Gonna try growing them for my first time this year. Thank you!

Thank you for this video. Broad beans are not a common crop here in Pennsylvania, and I think that I may try to grow them just to see if we like them. The plants look wonderful and the blossoms must attract a great deal of bees. Have a great today! Catherine

Thanks Charles, I've just planted 30 Broad beans, and 20 peas. Hoping the peas can live in the green house to compliment my so far successful attempt at a varied winter time salad! Really looking forward to having broad beans next spring. It'll complete my first year of veg gardening.

im glad you have no cats from the neighbourhood , just rabbit .

Watching this today (6th Feb 2021) in anticipation of planting some broad beans next weekend, and realising it is ALSO 6th Feb in the video! Desperately trying my best to be patient and wait for mid Feb to start my first seeds of the year, but this might have given me the excuse I need to sow something a little early! 😀

I have been binge watching your videos since I came across your channel a couple of weeks ago. I have to tell you that my heart sinks in my chest every time I watch you almost bury those seedlings in the ground. I'm not an experienced gardner by any means just been conditioned over many years to plant at the crown level. I've been trying to find the courage to go deeper since watching your videos though lol

Go broad beans!! The most magnificent producer of high-nutrient food that will actually feed you with lots of protein and good carbs, and a robust flavour. The pods can be picked over for many weeks, then the tops cut down and they will re-shoot for another quick crop. They scoff at foul weather and can be stored to keep body & soul together during the winter. Broad beans and spuds - if a gardener only had access to enough of these 2 foods, he could survive indefinitely.

Excellent video! Thank you! I am very happy to know that I can sow broad beans in the late winter!

Mick Jagger could'nt but I get SATISFACTION, from watching these videos.

Thank you for all your videos! I am learning lots.

I was astonished at the size of the root. I thought nothing much was happening until I turned the tray over. Gave me quite a turn.

OH THE POSSIBILITIES!!!... Can't wait to sow this year. Still suck at favas but.....

Thanks for the video Charles, learning plenty from you and the other RU-vid gardeners, no dig is the way we are going, got a better crop of veg last year. Still building up our soil with plenty of horse manure and our own household veg scraps. Working on successional sowing once we have improved the soil.

I enjoy the tips on how to store and eat thanks Charles

I am going to grow these for the first time this year. I live in zone 5 and I’m going to direct sow today and also start some in trays in my hoop house to see what does better. Watching you eat them makes me want some!

You do the work as it is very easy to do....I love farming InshaAllah I would have a small farm in future.

I know that I've got a few beans - not broad beans, but the green/snap type (although I have green, yellow, and purple colors), not to mention peas and cowpeas. Can't wait to see what they are like.

Thanks for the video, planted some beans a few months back for the first time. Now I have an idea about the harvest part.

Thank you ...your advice is invaluable to me.

Smaller bean pods are excellent in salads. They add a great mixture of flavors with a fresh salad. If you wait to the larger bean in the pods you can make a great mixture of hot Italian sausage with the beans in a pasta dish and spaghetti sauce. Just suggestion because the broad beans or Fava Beans have a versatility in meals.

Thanks for your great video. I grow now 3 years on the no-dig way. Last year we stir-fied the tops with garlic and union as an early vegetable. A great taste in a time witch you have not much to pick. The rest of the tops are great chickenfeed.

Very excited! I will try my first no-dig garden with broad beans ASAP, for a harvest in December in Australia, really looking forward to it. :)

after harvest the dried leaf & stem is great to put through the mulcher too

Lovely jubilee

Wow the best video on fava beans. I can’t wait until ours grow into beans.

So last year I bought a few broad bean plants in May from a garden centre on offer, that were looking a little sorry, but still plantable. I put them in the ground (pretty clay heavy, but with compost on top) and harvested towards the end of July. Now I probably would have pulled them at this point, but forgot, so in August, I suddenly had a second crop of beans from the same plants. And a third one at the end of September (each was a bit smaller than before, but still). Same plants are still in the ground now, have survived the winter (so far) and I'm looking forward to see if they flower again come March!

Great as always many thanks

Good to know! I have always been curious 🧐 about broad beans. This helped a lot. Thanks!

Good tutorial, nicely put together, calm & relaxing feel to it. Thank you

Another great video! I love broad beans, they're so easy to grow!! But in a gardeing magazine here they were warning people to under no circumstances eat the broad beans raw, that they need to be cooked for 10-15MINUTES to not be poisonous!! Which would turn them into an unappetizing sludge. Glad to see you (and the entire population of Italy) eat them raw and seem to be alive, I'll keep lightly blanching mine then! This video by the way came at the perfect time, when the temperature here dropped to -21C.. in a neighbouring town they reached -28C........... not sowing broad beans until april here, but this gives me hope! ❤ I will now binge on your videos in front of the fireplace so I won't fall into despair about summer being sooooo far away. 😉

I've been growing fava beans since the 1970s as a young teen in central California. I planted them outside in mid october, if I planted too early the favas could succumb to frost, they were not as hardy. They will survive short periods of temperatures down to 16 F. They would bear beans starting in May, by June it's too hot and they die off. Unfortunately I can't grow them now because I live in the humid tropics and they just can't take the heat. I really do miss fresh favas.

Thankyou that video and explanation.

Thank you, Charles! Excellent video as always!

Thank you for the guidance Charles. Fantastic video

many thanks

those beans are huge.

righto jolly! still snow on the ground in wisconsin. im going crazy!

Charles looks SO HAPPY 😁

As always another great video, Charles! I appreciate the dedication you put into this process in order to watch the seed come to fruition. Looking forward to my own growing season here in Arkansas in zone 7 as I've started my seeds just this week in preparation for the last frost. It's a pleasure to be able to learn from these instructional videos.

I really like watching your video and your garden. Very relaxing!

Very good. My first attempt at having a go at broad beans in March hmm🙃

Mouth watering experience

I have enjoyed your video very much. My broad beans are coming - don't usually grow them. So thanks for all the advice you give.

Very inspiring! I grow in the archipelago outside Stockholm, Sweden and will try mine earlier than normal this year. Might have to do some covering, but will be exiting. And when it comes to Deer, my gluts haven't gone for the broad beans yet....

Shout out to the double podding crew

My broad beans are sprouting I’m so excited!!!

hello charles..looking for your videos for a long time.new innovations in the gardening always give me pleasure.i have also started some indoor seedlings for summers including- bitterguard.ridgeguard.spongeguard.bottleguard.squash.watermelon.muskmelon.cucumber.tomato.pepper.brinjal.okra and some beans aswell.doing for the first time really excited..and yes great video again...

I like eating some of the smaller pods with some salt and olive oil; not a waste because you eat the pod as well.

Yine charles dowding ve yine türkçe altyazılı bir video keyfim yerinde 😂

I don't speak english sorry. Pero quiero decirle que sus vídeos me han motivado para empezar a sembrar mis vegetales, tengo muy poco espacio, pero lo voy a aprovechar. Saludos y buena vida para todos!!! 🙏🇲🇽

I have both read and always been told that beans are NOT to be eaten raw due to the high content of lectins :-/ Other than that this video along with all your other videos is very helpful and educational. Please do continue the good work :-)

Ive just sown mine in pots looking at yours in the ground I wish I had direct sown in Autumn.Im growing Aquadulce Claudia.I love watching your videos so inspiring.

Fava beans are loaded with nutrients and may offer impressive health benefits. Eating these beans regularly may have benefits for symptoms of Parkinson's disease, help prevent birth defects, boost immunity, aid weight loss and lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure.6 Dec 2018 I just got that from Google. I'm focusing on survival crops loaded with nutrients, which can be stored. I bought Robin hood beans, as my broad bean to add to my seed collection.